


Waking Up in Brooklyn

by WinterSoldiersAlly



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-19
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-05-09 00:48:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14705972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinterSoldiersAlly/pseuds/WinterSoldiersAlly
Summary: This story is set in 1931 following Bucky through grade 9 and 10.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is canon to my other one, Story of a Troubled Love, however if you hadn't read it, it won't make a difference.

It’s my second semester of high school and first day at football practice. Everything went well and I made a few friends. I like Billy O’Connell the most of them all, we have a lot in common and he’s easy to talk to. I see a lot more of him now, we see each other in the hallway and we eat lunch together. I was nervous to go to High School at first, it was different and I would be separated from Steve, he still has another year left to graduate. I had some friends that came from middle school but we weren’t that close and most of us don’t see each other anymore. Since I’ve met Billy things have started to change. I didn’t hate school so much. I still hated homework and stuff but actually going to school didn’t seem as bad as it did last semester. Being on the football team was considered cool so I have more friends than I’m used to. I think I’ve even seen some girls smiling at me, but that could only be my imagination. 

After school I find Steve to hang out with him. He doesn’t live that far away from my house. We've always had this issue where I’d go over to his house and he’d go over to mine and we’d miss each other so we picked a place to meet up instead. I see Steve sitting on the park bench. I go to the bench and sit down beside him, “Hey Steve.” He looks up at me and smiles, “Hey Bucky.” We ask each other about school. I try not to sound too happy because I feel bad that I left him alone and he’s been having a hard time making friends. I think it’s because he hasn’t tried but I don’t blame him for it. Steve is small for his age and kids pick on him for it. He always fights back though; he’s been in more fights than I can count. At least when I was there I was able to stop those kids from beating him up. That’s how we met, Steve was getting beat up by a bunch of kids and I stopped them. I've always seen those kids beat up younger kids, but I never did anything about it until I saw Steve stand up to them. He was only 10 at the time. It was just after a month of moving to New York from Indiana. It wasn’t easy; changing schools and meeting new people. I thought it’d be hard making new friends but then I met Steve and I knew I was going to be just fine. 

We go back to my house. I live with both my parents and my sister, Rebecca. Unlike Steve, he lives with only his mother; his father died before he was born and he doesn’t have any siblings. His mother works a lot to provide for the both of them. It’s not easy because Steve has a number of illnesses. Most of their money goes toward medicine and hospital visits but never once have I heard Sarah complain. She’s an amazing woman. My parents are great too; they let Steve stay at our house as long as he needs since his mother isn’t home much. Sometimes he even sleeps over. While we wait for my dad to get home we watch TV. The baseball game is on, Steve’s favourite sport. It’s Brooklyn Dodgers vs. Boston Red Sox.

When my dad gets here we have dinner. “How was school,” my mom asks us. I answer how I do every time she asks, “Good.” “Just good?” “Yep.” She gives me a look of annoyance and turns to Steve. “How’s your mom doing?” “She’s doing ok. She started a second job a couple of days ago.” “Good for her. Where did she get the job?” "At a restaurant; she's a waitress." "Well I wish her all the best." My mom is a waitress too; she hates it. She turns to my dad, "So George how was work today?" "Nothing much has changed." He works at a factory. After he served in the war he had trouble finding a job which is the reason why we moved to Brooklyn. 

My sister stays quiet like usual. Unless you start talking about her favourite books then she won’t shut up. That’s one of the reasons she and Steve get along so well he likes reading as well. I’m not much of a reader though. Only sometimes when Steve lends me one of his books insisting that I read it. After dinner Steve’s mom comes to pick him up. She looks tired from working so much but she still has a smile on her face. She talks to my parents for a bit while I say bye to Steve. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t get into any trouble until then,” I say to Steve.” “No promises,” he says.

At school I meet up with Billy and our other friends at lunch. One of the girls is having a party at her house. Her folks are away for the weekend. She’s handing out invitations and when she gives me mine she has a big smile on her face, “You’re coming, right?” “Uh, yeah.” When she leaves Billy turns to me, “I think she likes you.” “Nah, she was just being nice.” I can’t help but to smile, though, I don’t think a girl’s ever had a crush on me, at least as far as I know. 

When I get home and meet up with Steve at our spot I ask him if he wants to come to the party. “I don’t know, I mean it’s gonna be all high school kids, I wouldn’t fit in.” “You don’t have to worry about that, you’ll be with me.” Steve sighs and smiles, "Alright, but you gotta promise you won’t leave me alone.” “I promise.”

The weekend comes and it’s almost time for the party. I’m trying to decide what to wear, I only have a total of five outfits, but I can’t pick one. I’ve never really cared about what I wore before but for some reason I do now. That reason being is I don’t want to look like a dork in front of Mandy, the girl who’s hosting the party. Finally I pick something to wear and go to pick up Steve. We meet up with Billy when we get there. I introduce my best friend to my new friend. They seem to get along well.

I see Mandy and I wave at her. She smiles at me and walks toward us. I panic a little bit, I didn’t plan this far ahead. I’m thinking about what to say when she reaches us. She’s wearing a red dress and her hair is curled, “Hey, how’s it going?” I feel my palms start to sweat and I forget how to speak. Come on Bucky, say something. Billy saves me the trouble by speaking instead, “We’re doing great, thanks.” “Good,” she responds. She gives me a confused look and walks away. That didn’t go at all how I thought it would. Steve and Billy laugh at me. “Shut up.” 

On the Monday at school I see Mandy with Charlie; he’s on our football team. I bet he knows how to speak to girls. I couldn’t stop thinking about it all weekend, what I could have said. Of course it comes easy when I do it in my head. I don’t know what the hell came over me. I try to avoid eye contact with any girls in case they want to talk to me and I embarrass myself again. I really need to work on that.


	2. Chapter 2

All of that was forgotten once we won our first game. It’s the best birthday present I could get, even though my birthday isn’t until next week. Our coach takes the team to River Diner to celebrate. We take up the whole diner. My mom, my sister, Steve, and his mother join us. Mom, Rebecca, and Sarah take up one table while me, Steve, and Billy take up another. The sound of laughter and conversations fill up the room. 

Steve’s mom and my mom are both friends, so they talk to each other while my sister reads one of her books. My dad couldn’t make it because he’s working. He spends a lot of time working, he insists that he does so my mother doesn’t have to take on too many hours. They’ve had several arguments about this. My mom doesn’t think my father should work so much because of his illness but he doesn’t think she should work so much because she hates her job. She is looking for a new one but it’s difficult for women to find work at a place that they’re also respected. Not that my dad’s job is any better but for different reasons in that it’s very demanding and repetitive. He says he doesn’t mind though because it keeps him busy.

He would always say “Bucky, get a good education or you’ll end up working in a factory like me.” Not that my dad doesn’t have an education it’s just harder to find a job in that field with the current economy. We’re assuming it will get better. He used work as a businessman before the war started but when he got back they didn’t hire him again. He tried other corporations but got nothing, so we moved here and he took the first job that was available. My mother didn’t get an education though. Her parents insisted on her living a “normal” woman’s life by becoming a house wife and mother and now she’s stuck working at restaurants or other entry level jobs because of it.

“Any idea what you’re doing for your birthday?” Steve asked. I haven’t really thought much about that since I’ve been busy with school. “I don’t know maybe we’ll go see a movie or something.” 

So next week we go to the movies for my birthday. I invited Steve and Billy, of course, and my other friends, Lydia, Will, Charlie, and Mandy, who seemed to forget about our awkward encounter. The movie that we’re going to see is Dracula. It’s a horror fantasy about vampires. Will said his older brother watched it last week and some people were fainting in the theater. I’m not sure if he was being serious or just saying that to scare us, but it didn’t stop us from going. 

After we buy our tickets and get some popcorn we go to take our seats. I hear Charlie behind me say, “Don’t worry, Mandy, if you get scared I’ll hold your hand.” I hear her giggle and I roll my eyes. That would have been me if I hadn’t been an idiot. Billy noticed and turns to me, “If you need to hold someone’s hand I’ll be beside you.” I laugh, “I think it will be the other way around.” “I’m not gonna get scared.” “Yeah right. You freaked out yesterday when Will jumped out from behind the lockers.” “That was one time. Besides, how do I know you won’t get scared?” “I don’t scare easily, right Steve?” “Right, just last week we were about to get mugged by a couple of guys but Bucky beat the crap outta both of them.” “That’s not true,” Billy said. We all laugh. Who cares about some girl when I'm here with my best friends? 

It turns out the movie wasn’t as scary as I thought it’d be. We went to Sam’s Restaurant for some pizza. They gave us free cake for my birthday. It was time to make a wish before I blew out the candle, but I couldn’t think of anything, everything seems perfect. I guess I would have to say that I want to be like this for the rest of my life; happy and surrounded by my friends. We talked about the movie, school, football and other sports, and then everyone went home. Overall it was a pretty great birthday.

We got our exam schedules today even though it’s only April and exams are two months away. After school I meet up with Steve at our spot in the park. He has a black eye; I’m not surprised, he gets into fights a lot. “What happened this time?” “Some kid was making fun of my mother.” I wish I was there, not only to protect Steve, but to beat that kid up. “Did you give him a black eye too?” “I got a couple of hits on him.” I can’t wait until next semester when Steve goes to high school with me, that way I can keep an eye on him. “It’ll get better once you graduate.” “Yeah, I know.” “Are you excited for High School?” “I guess so.” He doesn’t seem happy about it. “Then we can hang out at school.” I smile at him. “As if I don’t have to see your face enough outside of school.” I laugh, “I know you love my face.” He rolls his eyes and smiles, “Yeah sure.” “Come on, we should get home before we miss the baseball game.”

The last couple of weeks before exams are the worst, the teachers try to cram in as many assignments as possible and on top of that we gotta study. Me and Billy have been going to each others’ houses to do homework and study, we have most of the same subjects. Today we’re working on a science project at my house. It’s all theory though; we finished all the cool projects last month. 

“This is so boring. I wish we were blowing stuff up like last time,” Billy said. That only happened once, but it was the highlight of the day. We were mixing some chemicals to see their different reactions and some kid mixed the wrong ones and it practically exploded. Not like a real explosion, but the liquid did go flying everywhere. Three kids had to take a chemical shower; luckily we weren’t in range of the blast. “Yeah, like who cares about the molecular formula of sodium phosphate?” I sad. I don’t mind chemistry, I actually find it interesting and all of this comes easy to me, but all these problems are really repetitive and it gets boring after the 30th question. School really takes the fun out of learning.

After a week we finally finished all our assignments, which leaves the rest of our free time for studying. This time we’re studying for History in Billy’s basement. It’s my least favourite subject; all of it is just memorizing facts. Most of it focuses on WWI; when it started, when it ended, the types of weapons that were invented because of it, stuff like that. 

They tell us we should be proud of our country because we won the war, but my dad says otherwise. He fought in the war so he knows what it’s really like; he told me, “There are no winners in war, only survivors.” The more I read about it the more I found that to be true. Lots of people died and the ones that didn’t weren’t the same afterward. My dad always tries to hide it, but I know he has a hard time sometimes. Even the ones who didn’t serve in the war were affected. Like Steve, he lost his father before he was born and now his mother is struggling to provide for both of them. ‘Specially since the stock market crash in ‘29. 

We’re doing alright, both my folks have jobs and Rebecca and I are old enough to stay at home by ourselves if they gotta work overtime. We had to sell one of our cars to pay for our bills. I don’t know about Billy, though, it’s not really a topic you discuss with your friends. Right now our only concern is passing these exams. We’re just reciting random facts to each other and hoping it’ll stick in our heads. 

I got so bored I started throwing popcorn at Billy just to see how many I can stick in his hair. “Pay attention,” Billy said as he brushed the popcorn out of his hair. “Can’t we take a break; we’ve been doing this for hours?” “We only got a few chapters left.” I close my book and put it aside, “If I hear one more boring fact I think my head’ll explode.” He sighs, “Alright fine, we’ll take a break, but only ‘cause I don’t wanna have to clean you up off the floor,” he puts his book away too and turns on the radio, “We’re taking 5 minutes.” “Make it 10 and I won’t just read off the book, I’ll re-enact it like a play.” “I’ll make it 20 if you turn it into a musical.” “Deal.”

We had so much fun dramatically singing history facts to each other that we went back a couple of chapters. I don’t know why we didn’t think of this sooner. I think we learnt more this way than monotonously reading each point in the book. “We should just drop outta school and become a famous singing duo,” I said as we both sit down on the couch. “Yeah, right, we might as well starve ourselves now ‘cause if we had to make money based on our voices we’d never get anywhere.” We both laugh. 

There’s silence and we just smile at each other. Billy leans in and kisses me on the lips. I don’t move, but I don’t try to stop him. He leans back with a look of shock on his face, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…I shouldn’t have done that.” I still don’t move and I don’t speak. I don’t know what to say, I don’t know what to think. I’m supposed to be angry and disgusted that a boy kissed me, but I’m not. Is there something wrong with me? 

Finally I’m able to move, “I should go.” I get my stuff, go up the stairs, and leave. As I’m walking home I try to forget about the kiss, but I can’t. Did I like it? No, I can’t have. I’ve never kissed anyone before so I don’t know how it’s supposed to feel. It’s not that I liked it; it’s just something I’ve never experienced before. At least that’s what I tell myself.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning I’m still thinking about the kiss. I’ve tried to convince myself all night that I felt nothing and I didn't sleep at all. I don’t talk much at breakfast afraid I might accidentally let it slip to my family that I kissed a boy. No, he kissed me, it doesn’t count. I’m gonna have to see him today. I don’t know what to say to him. Maybe I shouldn’t talk to him, in case he tries to kiss me again, but I don’t wanna stop being friends with him. On my way to school I think about what I'm going to say to him. It's a long walk so I have a lot of time but I still can't come up with anything when I get to the school. He sees me in the hallway and walks up to me, “I need to talk to you at lunch,” he doesn’t look me in directly in the eye and he doesn’t wait for a response. We have math class just before lunch. We still sit together but neither of us say anything to each other. Is this how it’s gonna be now? We won’t be able to talk to each other or look at each other? I hardly pay any attention in class and get the answers wrong when the teacher calls me out. The bell rings and I follow Billy out of class still in silence. 

He walks outside and to the bleachers. He looks around making sure nobody can overhear us. Sometimes couples come here to make out because it hides you from everyone else. Thinking about people kissing reminds me of last night. This time I don’t try to stop myself from thinking about it. I remember how his lips felt on mine and I didn’t hate it, so that must mean I liked it, right? I’m still not really sure. Billy looks down at our feet, “Bucky, I’m sorry about yesterday. You probably don’t wanna be my friend anymore, but you should know that I like you, I always had from the beginning.” He looks up at me waiting for a response. 

I don’t say anything; instead I gently take his face in my hands and kiss him. It feels nice and I know I’m not supposed to like it, but I do. We break away and he looks even more shocked than the first time. Before he says anything I speak up, “I like you, too. I’m just sorry it took me this long to figure it out.” He smiles, but it quickly fades, “We can’t let anyone know about this or they might arrest us.” “They can’t arrest us, we’re underage.” “Maybe not, but that won’t stop kids from beating us up.” “We’ll just have to pretend that we’re only friends when we’re around other people, they’ll never know.” It’s sad to think about it, but we don’t have any other choice.

Walking down the hallways at school these past few weeks feels different. I’m paranoid that everyone found out about me and Billy and they’re gonna want to hurt us. Not only that but these past few days I’ve been noticing more couples holding hands or kissing between classes. It makes me feel jealous of them because I can’t do that with my boyfriend in public without being judged and beat up. I don’t understand why it’s so wrong. What’s the different between us and them? We’re just two people who like each other, it shouldn’t matter what our gender is. But we can’t be like normal couples; we can’t go out on dates, show affection in public, or get married. It sucks.

After football practice we go to the locker rooms to change. Billy and I wait for everyone to leave. We double check to see if everyone is gone before I grab Billy by his shirt collar and pull him in to kiss him. He gently pushes me up against the locker and presses himself closer to me. We’re so close there’s not even an inch between us yet it’s not close enough. Billy takes a step back and takes off his shirt so I do the same. He closes the space between us and kisses me again. Then he stops and looks into my eyes. He traces my cheek bone with his thumb and kisses me one more time before kneeling down.

We got lucky, no one walked in on us. The thought of someone finding out about us terrifies me, but it doesn’t stop me. I don’t care if people think it’s wrong, I love my boyfriend and I’m not ashamed. Although I’d never admit that to anyone, not even Billy knows yet. It’s too soon to tell him.


End file.
